When he was hired on as a technician at Land Rover 16 years ago, he didn’t know much about them. It didn’t take long to catch on to their appeal.
“Land Rover is all about getting off the pavement, getting out in nature, enjoying God’s creation with no traffic lights,” Bell said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Within a few years of starting the job, he bought his own Land Rover, started taking it off-roading and was hooked. Soon after, he founded the Gulf Coast Land Rover Club and has become an integral part of the community.
This weekend, Bell and about 100 Land Rover and funky beach cruiser enthusiasts from across the Southeast are expected to bring their vehicles out for the second annual 30A Sand Rover Rally. This year Land Rover Gulf Coast in Mobile, Ala., where Bell is a master technician, is the presenting sponsor, and the rally is expected to bring double the crowd of last year’s inaugural event.
The sentiment Bell stumbled across years ago is what Land Rover has been all about since its founding in 1998. The company has only produced four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicles, encouraging owners to use them to create their own adventures in areas less traveled.
And that they have. Bell said one of the best parts of a Land Rover gathering like this weekend’s is hearing the enthusiasts share their stories.
The trucks have been all across England, off roads through the country in India, across places all over the world that can’t be reached by road, to see things that rarely get to be seen by the average traveler, Bell said.
He noted the adventure tales always include the travails, as well, such as the last place the driver got their Rover stuck — in the mud, in a ditch, in the sand. “It’s all part of the fun.”
Bell is looking forward to hearing more of these stories this weekend, as well as seeing some of the impressive modifications people have made to the vehicles.
He said enthusiasts from his area are bringing some collectors’ items, such as a 2001 Discovery, decked out with 33-inch mud tires, roof-rack lights, rock sliders. Someone else is bringing a green Defender from the mid-90s, which is pretty rare.
One Bell is most excited about is the G4 edition of an LR3 that was created specifically for the G4 Challenge, an off-roading competition in Nevada in 2008. Less than 100 were made.
